Coping carriage



May 8, 1923 F. J. T. BELL COPING CARRIAGE Filed June 8. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May a, 1923. 1,454,206

F. J. T. BELL COPING CARRIAGE Filed June 8. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented ay 8, 1923.

FREDERIQK JOHN TURNER BELL, OF'ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE, ENG-LAND.

COPING- CARRIAGE.

Application filed June 8,

1 ed to travel upon the upper surfaces of cop ing stones of factories and other buildings, from which carriages, hereinafter referred to as copingcarriages, abask'et or cradle is suspended in which the operative stands for such purposes as pointingthe front of a building, painting, cleaning windows and the like operations, and which coping carriage is caused to'move along by the operative manipulating a rope which actuates a pulley connected with the wheels of said carriage.

Before the date of my invention such coping carriages were formed'so that the pairs of wheels on which it travelled, usually twopairs, were adjustable on their shafts, so

that the tread of the wheels might be adapted to any width of coping stone. The adjusting of the wheels in this manner however still left the frame of the carriage of the original dimensions, and a method was then devised of sliding the side frame members of the carriage upon the end members, to narrow the, transverse dimensions of the carriage the wheels being moved separately.

Such method was cumbersome and dam gerous, as much unscrewing and screwing of bolts had to be done when any change of.

width of the carriage had to "be effected. Further, the projecting jib at one side of the carriage and carrying a counterweight was not shortened, so that any projection near theinner edge of the coping stone effectually stopped the travel of the coping carria-ge.

My invention has for object a carriage in which all the defects above enumerated will be done away with, and in carrying it into effect I form the coping carriage with side members, collapsible members, connecting the said side members, and running wheels in fixed relation tosuch members. Thus when the carriage is collapsed or'drawn Ollt transversely to alter the tread of the wheels, the frame is also narrowed or widened by the same movement. Moreparticularlythe 1921. Serial No. 475,988.

side members may be connected by two transverse shafts each, carrying a pair of wheels and which shafts are telescopic, and

a central transverse strengthening, bar, if

desired, which is alsotelescopic. Above'the latter and fixed to one side member is a jib carrying'the counterweight which balances the pull of the weight of the cradleand operative, such jibvbeing capable of adjustment angularly in a vertical direction and which may further be telescopic. By this construction the simple telescoping of one part upon another effects all the adjustment. necessary to suit the width of the carriage and the width of tread of the wheels to any -"coping stone, and to bring the counter v v weight out of the way of any projections which may exist near the inner edge of the coping stone. i a

Combined with the above I may "so form the running pulley usually" fitted to the cradle, and which pulley has hitherto been on a fixed shaft, that it may be moved out of the way when the cradle is to be travs, '80

ersed along the front of a building, and. I may further provide, on abracket carrying said pulley, a further pulley having a vertijcal axis, that is, running horizontally in contact withthe building wall as the cradle is moved.

The accompanying, drawings illustrate a convenient method of carrying my invention into effect, which drawings are not to any scale, and in which i Figure 1 is a view in isometric projection of the coping carriage, the object of this invention, in place upon a coping stone;

Figure 2 is a'plan view of the carriage,

' and Figure 3 a side elevation of the same, from the front;

Figure 4 is'an end elevation;

Figure 5 shows a modification of the carriage of Figure 2, one side only being shown; I

Figures 6 and 7 are details, and

Figure 8 showsin side elevation and plan a cradle with my improved runners.

Referring to the figures, l, 2 are the side members of the carriage, such side members being composed of channel iron disposed as shown. The channel iron may however be disposed in any other manner and may indeed be substituted by metal of other section v if desired. 3, 3 'and 4, 4 are fixed 'tele- 17 and a nut 18.

scopic shafts the ends of which are secured to the side members 1 2 in any manner, as by welding or bolting. Gne half of each shaft is tubular and the other may be solid or tubular as desired, being so formed that one half of each shaft may slide within or be telescoped within the other half. For

this purpose the latter half is formed of ap propriately larger diameter than the former half. That part of. each shaft which is adapted to allow the other to slide within it is slit at its free end, the slits terminating in a circular opening. A. slit with the terminal circular opening is shown in detail in Figure 7 and is designated by the ref erence letter 5. Wheels 6 are mounted upon the shafts as shown in the figures in such a manner as to allow them to rotate freely, and they are prevented from moving horizontally along the shafts by the collars 7 keyed or otherwise secured to the fixed shafts. 8, 8 is a telescopic shaft similar to the wheel shafts 3 3 and 1- i, and secured to the side member 1 2 in the manner as these shafts. This central shaft serves as a transverse strengthening member for the coping carriage. At any convenient point of the part 8 of his telescopic centre shaft is fitted a quadrant 9, and to a support 10 on the side member 1 is pivoted the jib 11, 11, hearing the counterweight 12-. A. prolongation of the support 10 is adapted to receive the end of the rope 18 which supports the cradle as usual. The quadrant 9 is formed with pin holes as shown in Figure 4, wherein a loose pin may be inserted to support the jib 11 11 at any angle to which it may be raised in relation to the plane of the coping carriage. This quadrant may be duplicated so that the jib member 8 may move between the two parts thereof.

111 all the telescopic shafts 3 3, a f, 8 8 and 11 11, the method of securing the two parts of the shaft together is the same. A clamping collar 14%, Figure 7, which shows the collar in side elevation and front, is provided with flanges 15 bored to receive a screwed bolt 16 furnished with a lever Manipulation of the lever loosens or tightens the bolt 16, to allow one part of the shaft toslide in relation to the other, or to secure them together in any desired position.

19 is a rope passing around the grooved pulley 2O keyed upon the shaft 21 which pass through a bearing in the side member 1 of the coping carriage and has keyed on its other end the toothed wheel 22 meshing with a pinion 23 Jreferably formed solid with a wheel 6. The rope 19 is within r ach of the operative in the cradle supported by the rope 13, and manipulation of the said rope 19 by him enables him to .SE the coping carriage along the cop be desired. as alreadypractised with such devices.

In Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4: and also to a larger scale in Figure 6 are shown guide runners 2 1 mounted on vertical shafts 25 in such a manner as to be freely rotatable around the said shafts, an end collar 26 keeping the runner in position on the. shaft. Each shaft 25 is supported by a bolt 27 in a bracket 28 which is slidable upon a fixed bracket member 29 welded or bolted to the side member 1 or 2 as the case may be. A cup head or other bolt 30 passes through the longitudinal slot 31 in the fixed bracket member 28 and is formed solid with the bracket member 29. This bolt 30 is screwed at its upper end to receive the tapped end of a lever 31. To adjust the sliding bracket member in relation to the fixed bracket member 29, the lever 31 is turned radially on the bolt 30, the bracket 28 is then slidden along to the desired position, and the lever 31 then turned to secure the two members together in the desired position.

In Figure 5 a modification. is shown on the apparatus as shown in plan in Figure 2. in this Figure 5 a side member 2 is shown fitted with fixed shafts .3 4: bearing freely rotating wheels 6 secured in place by collars 7 keyed to the shaft as previously explained with reference to Figure 2. linstead of. the two side members being connected by telescopic shafts however, the collapsible frame 8 is pivoted to shafts 1 and 2 at 8 The members of this collapsible frame may be rectangular in cross section and be pivoted together at 8 levers 17 serving to loosen or tighten up the members of the frame in any desired position by means of screwed bolt forming the pivot 8 in a similar manner to that described with reference to the parts 30 and 31 in Figure 6.

In operation, the coping carriage is placed upon. the coping, and, to adjust the width of tread of the wheels to the width of said coping, the lever 17 of each telescopic shaft is turned to allow the two halves of shafts 3, 3' and 4i, i? and 8, 8, to slide with relation to each other. The two side members 1, 2, are then pressed towards each other, or drawn away from each other, as the case may be, and the levers 17 turned to tighten clamping collar 1 1. In order to bring the guide runners 25 close against the sides of the coping. stone, to prevent sideways movement of the carriage thereon, the said guide runners are adjusted by means of the device shown and already described in reference more particularly to Figure 6. Previous to the date of my invention it has not been possible to provide such runners to engage the fronts of coping stories, as these latter are. frequently provided with mouldings, such as ogee or scotia mouldings of varying dimensions.

Where projections occur behind a coping stone which would be likely to interfere with the free traverse of the coping carriag'e, such as for instance adormer window coming close upon the coping stone, the jib 11 11 carrying the counter-weight 12 is raised and secured in position by means of a pin passing through the quadrant 9 and which pin should be of sufiicient strength to support the jib upon it in the position desired. Should the angle thus given to the jib not be sufiicient to clear the obstruction, the said jib is telescoped in exactly the same manner as the wheel shafts and the centre strengthening shaft as already described.

The carriage being in position and the operative being in the cradle, which may be of the known type and suspended as already explained by the rope 13, which may be provided with sleeves and pulleys as usual the said operative can then traverse the carriage as desired by manipulating the rope 19 passing around pulley 20. It is usual to provide a runner upon such cradles, which runner is mounted on a horizontal axle to facilitate the ascent and descent of the cradle when the latter comes close to the wall of the building. By my improvements I mount this runner on a bracket in such a manner that it may be moved away from the wall when it is desired to traverse the cradle horizontally along the wall, and to bring into contact with the said wall a further runner mounted on a vertical axis. In Figure 8 this improvement is shown in side elevation and plan, 32 being the usual runner and 33 the additional runner provided for the horizontal traverse. These runners are mounted at the angle to each other shown in the drawings on a bracket 35 mounted upon the pillar 36 which passes through a bearing 37 attached to the cradle 33. The pillar 36 bears at its upper end the lever 38 which may engage with stops 39 on a plate 40 fitted upon the upper edge of the cradle to keep the bracket 35 in any desired position.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is v 1. A coping carriage characterized by side members, collapsible members connecting the said side members, running wheels in fixed relation to such side members and moving transversely therewith when the side members are moved towards each other and a jib bearing the carriage counterweight, said jib being pivoted toone of the side members and adapted to be raised and secured at an angle to the plane of the carriage.

2. A coping carriage characterized by side members, collapsible members connecting the said side members, running wheels in fixed relation to such side members and moving transversely therewith when the side members are moved towards each other and a jib bearing the carriage counterweight, said jib being pivoted to one of the side members and adapted to be telescoped upon itself and to be secured in its telescoped or full length position.

3. A coping carriage-characterized by side members, collapsible members connecting the said side members, running wheels in fixed relation to such side members and moving transversely therewith when the side members are moved towards each other, and I means for securing the collapsed members in any desired position, and edge runners to engage the front and rear edges of the coping stone, saidv runners being adjustable towards or away from the side members of the carriage.

4-. A coping carriage characterized by side members, collapsible members connecting the said side members, running wheels in fixed relation to such side members and moving transversely therewith when the side members are moved towards each other and means for securing the collapsed members in any desired position, and toothed and rope gearing between one of the carriage running wheels and the cradle swung from the coping carriage and bearing the operative.

5. A coping carriage characterized by side members, collapsible members connecting the said side members, running wheels in fixed relation to such side members and moving transversely therewith when the side members are moved towards each other and means for securing the collapsed members in any desired position, and toothed and rope gearing between one of the carriage running wheels and the cradle swung from the coping carriage and bearing the operative, said cradle having fitted thereto vertical and horizontal runners to engage the front of the building, and means for turning each runner into or out of engagement with the said wall. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

FREDERIQK JOHN TURNER BELL; 

